herodotus - the persian wars

herodotus nickname

“father of history”

ancient greek timeline

mycenaen (trojan war) → greek dark age (loss of writing) → archaic age (homer) → classical age (herodotus, persian wars)

colonization

apoikia - “home away from home”

founding city

metropolis - “mother city”

reasons for colonization?

1) overpopulation

2) need to secure scarce resources

3) difficulties of agriculture

polis

basic socio-political unit of ancient greece (ex. athens = democracy, sparta = oligarchy)

what are the community of citizens bound by?

1) common ancestor (blood + kinship)

2) common religious belief

3) common language

divisions of the people of a polis

council of nobles → assembly of people → courts

why do wars start?

traffic of women (“women stealing”) → revenge + retaliation

ex. io (greek stolen by phoenician), europa (phoenician stolen by greek), medea (colchian stolen by greek), helen (greek stolen by trojan)

historia

inquiry, investigation, search for causes; should seek to articulate “universal truths'“ that illuminate us

story croesus and solon

“count no man happy until he is dead”; weath vs flourishing

hoplite phalanx

military institution fundamental to polis

hoplite

heavily armed infantryman who fought w/ spear and large shield (farmer → soldier → citizen)

phalanx

how they were set up to fight (think rectangle, think clip from the 300)

first persian invasion of greece

1) wanted revenge on greeks for aiding in ionian rebellion

2) punishment for sacking and burning sardis

3) further imperialist expansion

4) desire to restore pro-persian leader

what do greeks love the most?

their freedom/individualism/independence